When he entered the training stables of Tommy Smith Kingston Town was like any other horse albeit very colt with habits of ‘climbing’ the wall and he was a windsucker. On the track he showed enough to warrant some confidence when he stepped out for his first start in March 1979. At the start Kingston Town jumped out last and then proceeded to tried and buck before tailing the field throughout. Soon after he was gelded and given a short break before resuming his racing career in late June in the Round Table Hcp. Drifting to 33/1 in betting Kingston Town settled midfield before powering home to win by 2 ˝ lengths from Just Sunday. A month later he went out favourite and duly won by a head from Bemboka Yacht. Bemboka Yacht later won the Hobartville Stakes and Stradbroke before retiring to stud.

Kingston Town then went on to complete the hat trick of wins in the Commissionaire Hcp a fortnight later before being aimed at the big spring races. In the Peter Pan Stakes Kingston Town settled midfield before joining his stablemate Spear by the 100m then sprinting away to win by 3 Ľ lengths and recording a race record time of 1.30.6.

In the Gloaming Stakes Kingston Town settled midfield before moving to second outside the leader by the 1100m. He took the lead in the straight before racing away to win easily from Shogun with Outcome third.

The final leg of the spring triple crown was the Spring Champion Stakes and it was thought that Kingston Town’s stablemate Mighty Kingdom might stop the winning sequence. Victory by Kingston Town though was never in doubt as he bounded away in the straight to win by five lengths eased up from Mighty Kingdom with Young Shaun third. The accolades followed after the race which was his 6th consecutive win and then it was off to Melbourne.

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Pic courtesy Robyn Lobb

Tommy Smith was never completely happy with Kingston Town’s work in Melbourne and it was turning out to be a wet spring carnival. Kingston Town had never raced on rain affected ground but started evens favourite in the Caulfield Guineas. On a slow track Kingston Town was forced out wide and was never a threat running on late in the straight for third behind Bold Diplomat (who later lost on protest) and Runaway Kid. As the weather had improved it was decided that Kingston Town would run in the Caulfield Cup instead of the Cox Plate – with 48.5kg in the Cox Plate he could have made it interesting as in his absence star galloper 4yo Dulcify raced to a record seven length win. In the Caulfield Cup Kingston Town struggled into fourth place after changing stride throughout as Mighty Kingdom strode to victory.

Kingston Town then headed to the VRC Derby run at his training base in Victoria Flemington. Malcolm Johnston took the ride on favourite Mighty Kingdom with Roy Higgins riding Kingston Town the second favourite of the 17 horses. Kingston Town was midfield throughout before moving forward by the 800m. Then he was checked during a scrimmage with another runner and began to change stride. Despite this he was starting to run down the leader Big Print. On the line Big Print was still in front by a nose from Kingston Town with 3 ˝ lengths to Runaway Kid third and Mighty Kingdom fourth. Sadly 12 months later Big Print collapsed and died during the running of the Melbourne Cup. After the Derby Kingston Town was found to have twisted the off fore plate so he was only racing effectively on three legs in the final stages. During his summer spell a wart was removed from his offside ear resulting in a small chunk missing which can be seen in many photos of the horse.

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